Contract Marriage: Let's Make It Real, Mrs. Sterling!-Chapter 284 - 283: What Kind of Diploma Mill Is That College
For a while, posts about Mia Sutton were flying all over the internet, and even any replies mentioning Mia Sutton were getting lots of attention.
Mia’s rapid rise to fame recently naturally attracted envy, and there were plenty of people eager to bring her down. But they hadn’t found the opportunity—until now, that is.
The most sophisticated form of defamation isn’t just making up wild lies—those are too easy to see through. The more advanced tactic is mixing lies with truths, and truths with lies—creating a sea of half-truths and confusions.
This makes everything seem more realistic and believable.
After all, some people just love gossip; they don’t care whether the rumors are true or false.
[Wait a minute, is Mia really like that? I’ve followed her since her talent show days, and she seemed pretty nice to me.]
[No celebrity is squeaky clean; they’re all putting on an act for the cameras. It’s not like they’re going to show their true selves.]
[Anyway, it’s true that she’s been selling this "straight-A student" image. But who knows what kind of university she’s actually attending.]
The account that leaked the report card didn’t mention what school Mia was from. Some even speculated it might be some no-name college, and that she was only pretending to focus on academics to bolster her image.
Thus began an internet frenzy to uncover which university Mia Sutton actually attended.
It didn’t take long for them to find out.
The result shocked everyone—who would’ve thought Mia’s university was Aethelgard? Aethelgard is definitely not some no-name school.
...
[Hey guys, stop digging. I know now—it turns out Mia isn’t at some no-name university. You won’t believe it, but she’s actually at Aethelgard! Triple shocker!!!] 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
[No way, Aethelgard? The Aethelgard I’m thinking of? How could she get in with those grades?]
[Take out that question mark at the end. Yes, it’s the Aethelgard you’re thinking of.]
[Now that you mention it, I remember there was this time people mentioned seeing Jensen Sterling and Mia at Aethelgard. I was wondering why Mia would be there without any events, but no one paid attention back then.]
Following this reminder, netizens suddenly recalled the incident. It had been trending, after all, and was easy to look up online.
Finding out Mia’s school was Aethelgard came as a genuine surprise.
But the shock was short-lived. Even if her school was Aethelgard, it couldn’t cover up her poor academic performance.
The online sentiment remained overwhelmingly negative.
[Honestly, Mia’s an entertainer. She’s mainly in the entertainment industry, always busy, so it’s understandable if her grades aren’t the best, right?]
[Haha, there’s a difference between "not the best" and being totally awful.]
[Did you see that lousy report card? And she says she left the show to study for exams—what a joke.]
[Really, how did she ever get into Aethelgard with grades like that? Aethelgard is supposed to be one of the top schools. Are those the kind of students they take?]
[I seriously suspect she got into Aethelgard through some underhanded means.]
[Yeah, if she legitimately got in with those awful grades, I’d livestream eating dirt.]
Things escalated when some marketing account found a student from Mia’s year and major, claiming Mia attended classes at first but then stopped altogether, with dismal exam results—putting her right in the line of fire.
...
In a dorm room, a girl sat on her bed, fuming at the online chatter.
"Mia Sutton isn’t like that. These people are just spreading rumors."
This girl had met Mia Sutton at Aethelgard and had shown her around; they were in the same major.
Though they’d only spent a short time together, she could tell Mia wasn’t the way those rumors portrayed her.
Not to mention, their department head had once praised Mia during a class—to a degree that couldn’t have been faked.
So, the girl refused to believe the online gossip.
She furiously refuted the claims on her phone, but no one paid attention. At least no one retaliated against her.
Her comments were like a drop in the ocean, barely making a splash.
...
Mia Sutton sat in Celine Thorne’s office, scrolling through the online chatter on her phone. Her fingers moved swiftly across the screen.
Suddenly, her fingers stopped, and after a few moments, she quickly tapped the screen a few times.
Then, Celine Thorne’s voice filled the room.
Celine hadn’t expected this situation to unfold. Having managed Mia for so long, she had a good sense of her artist’s character.
Jensen Sterling and Mia’s relationship aside, Celine had been a manager for many years and had the instincts worthy of a top agent. Surely, she could gauge people’s character.
Otherwise, what had she been doing all these years?
Celine briefly skimmed through the online chatter, then calmly said, "Mia, you know about everything online, right?"
Mia moved her gaze from her phone, lifting her head to look at Celine. She nodded slowly.
Celine continued, "Tell me what happened—I need to prepare our team for the PR.
After she spoke, she looked at Mia after a few seconds and added, "By the way, are these things true or false?"
Mia paused, then said, "Both."
Celine’s hand paused, watching as Mia began to enumerate, "The report card that got leaked is real." After all, she couldn’t control the narrative during those times.
Her high school grades had been excellent; otherwise, she wouldn’t have made it to Aethelgard. It was only after encountering Martin Wright that her life took a downturn. What author would let a side character excel academically? She couldn’t be blamed for that.
"The part about going to bars is true." Even before entering the entertainment industry, she frequent bars—considering she owned one.
"I’d say the claims about being spoilt and capricious are also true." She had indeed been so during that period.
Mia lowered her gaze and considered, "Those are the facts; everything else is false."
